ABOUT NJ STRONG:NJ Strong is a grassroots volunteer group working to help families whose homes were damaged by superstorm Sandy. So far, the group has helped clean out 41 homes. Since superstorm Sandy smashed the Shore, NJ Strong has grown into a network of more than 250 volunteers via social media. They work with 15 other social media groups to ensure storm victims can get what they need to get back to normalcy. Their site, www.njstrong.net, contains fundraising and volunteer opportunities.

Ariana DelValle, 6, of the Stafford Township Primary Learning Center with her shoebox.

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STAFFORD — Six-year-old Kaylee Purks and Giada Mangino had just arrived at the Ronald L. Meinders Primary Learning Center on Monday morning when they were called to a surprise gathering.

The two girls are among more than 100 children in the township still displaced by superstorm Sandy, and who received gifts Monday from NJ Strong’s Operation Shoebox to help offset their struggles brought on by the hurricane.

Kaylee said she’s staying with her grandmother as her parents work to clear storm debris from their home. Giada said her family is staying with friends.

“Our house was ruined by the flood,” Giada explained. “The living room, my sister’s room, the kitchen, garage and office had 2 feet of water; oh, and the bathroom, too.”

Behind the scenes, it was the brother-sister duo from Rockaway — Lindsay, 24, and Stephen Donald, 21 — who helped make the gifts possible.

Lindsay Donald, who received a master’s degree in public health from Northeastern University, said she had an immediate urge to travel down to the southern Shore area the first weekend after the storm hit to help with cleanup efforts. She used social media to rally a small group of friends and soon the nonprofit recovery group — NJ Strong — was born.

“I hope to hit (clean out) 100 homes before the new year,” she said.

While their focus is on cleaning up homes and providing storm victims with what they need through a 15-member social media network, it was a conversation with her former English teacher that led to the shoebox gifts given Monday to Kaylee, Giada and 13 other students in the school.

Township resident Marie McMenamy, a school parent who is Donald’s close friend, delivered 25 shoebox gifts.

“We know the big storm came, and you guys lost a lot of things that were special to you,” McMenamy said. “These boxes are filled with little presents to bring some happiness even though something terrible has happened to some of your belongings.”

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Principal Carl F. Krushinski said counselors were brought in to help with triage work, since some of the district’s students witnessed tremendous loss.

“I’m just amazed at the resilience of my students,” Krushinski said. “What’s nice about school is that it is a constant in their lives. When they come here, it is a stability (the storm has not affected).”

As McMenamy distributed the shoeboxes, Kaylee and Giada sat quietly with their gifts on their laps. Soon, curiosity got the best of Kaylee and she began to shake her shoebox.

Though Kaylee’s note, dated Nov. 19, had a hand-written message from a kindergarten student named Riya in Morris County, it was the rainbow drawn on the back that she shared with Giada.

“Look,” she said.

Wrapped in bright yellow paper, the shoeboxes, many of them covered in cartoon stickers, were filled with stuffed animals, card games, toys, gift cards, and personal notes from students in Kristen Turner’s kindergarten class at Dickerson Elementary in Morris County.

“We have 13 kindergarten classes here and have chosen students heavily affected by the storm to receive the shoebox gifts,” district spokeswoman Karina Monanian said. “The remaining 10 boxes will go to students at Oxycocus School.”